Buckley, Bruce, Edward J. Hopkins,

Buckley, Bruce, Edward J. Hopkins, & Richard Whitaker. Weather: A Visual Guide. New York:

Firefly, 2004.

A good, introductory text that is nevertheless not 'dumbed down' for meteorology students. It would be a useful reference source even for individuals doing higher-level graduate work in weather science because of its breadth and clarity, as well as its ease of 'searchability.' Like a textbook or encyclopedia, the book deals with metrological phenomena in terms of broad topic overviews according to subject areas. Most entrees come with helpful photographs. In addition to discussing the causes of particular kinds of weather and weather-related natural disasters and weather extremes, global warming and the reasons for climate change are also addressed.

Fallen Tree Type Shelters." Bill's Outdoor Tree Pages: The Ozarks. Updated December 20, 2004. November 23, 2008. http://www.theozarks.com/Outdoors/ShelterFallenTree.htm.

Did you ever wonder what you would do if you were lost in the woods, and had nowhere to go to take shelter at night? Bill's Outdoor Tree Pages provides a comprehensive guide as to how to construct such structures from fallen brush and lean-to shelters from fallen trees. Of course, for many of us, the likelihood of being lost without recourse to a tent or camping gear is relatively slim (although not as slim as one might like to think, given recent reports of lost explorers in the news). Still, for nature and camping aficionados, the detailed presentation of the shelters makes it possible to replicate Bill's instructions quite easily. This is a fun site to visit if one needs to do so for fulfilling the requirements for a Boy Scout merit badge or Outward Bound program. It is something that is also good to know for a frequent camper, even if the knowledge will hopefully not be necessary, except under extreme conditions.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Perigree Books, 1959.

Golding's classic work of fiction tells the tale of some British boys who are abandoned on a deserted island due to a plane crash. The boys quickly devolve into their own, primitive society. The book is a metaphor for the human condition in a state of nature and one of the most controversial novels of the 20th century.

Jenkins, Mark. "Natural Shelters." Backpacker. 25.3 (1997):1-6. http://web.ebscohost.com.

Mark Jenkins provides a clear and comprehensive guide to a possibly frightening subject, namely what to do if you are lost while hiking in the woods. Jenkins provides instructions about how to create a makeshift shelter for the night using a variety of debris likely to be on hand, including logs, grass, and tree boughs. He also provides a quick guide as to how to deal with issues of cold and heat exposure and exhaustion.

Peng, Xulong, Jinfei Wang, & Qiaofeng Zhang. "Deriving Terrain and textural information from stereo RADARSAT data for mountainous land cover mapping." International Journal of Remote Sensing. 26.22 (January 2005): 5029-5049. http://web.ebscohost.com.

This article provides information about a new form of technology called stereo RADARSAT. The technology provides data useful in land cover mapping, especially in mountainous areas where cloud cover is often a problem. A test case is reviewed of a mapping done in a remote region of Southern Argentina, which was finally successfully mapped due to the new technology.

Pielke Jr., Roger, and R.E. Carbone. "Weather Impacts, Forecasts, and Policy: An Integrated

Perspective." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 83.3 (2002): 393-403. http://web.ebscohost.com.

Since the affects of extreme meteorology have been felt upon the nation, more and more meteorologists have called for greater federal funding for the study of weather. This relatively old article suffers by virtue of being written before the political fallout that occurred after Hurricane Katrina. Still, it provides useful information about the interaction between policy and weather science, in terms of their effects upon human life. It is an opinion piece that stresses that weather research cannot meet society's need to know more about the weather unless the government invests more money in the science and technology of weather services such as forecasting, observational and computational weather mapping infrastructure, and research and development into the causes of climate change and extreme weather conditions. Of course, government's financial resources are strained today, but the article makes a persuasive point that the loss may be far larger if no investment is finally made, because of the ensuring weather-related damage.